One simple clip could revolutionize the game of football

Justin Summerville, president and CEO of Hobart-Mayfield: Innovative Sports Technologies with his designs for a patent-pending impact absorbing facemask clip. At his left is Rich Williams, vice-president and COO of Hobart-Mayfield. Gina Joseph - The Macomb Daily.

The Hobart-Mayfield group including Rich Williams, at left, along with Greg Wieczerza, Justin Summerville and Lomas Brown, former Detroit Lions offensive tackle. Gina Joseph - The Macomb Daily

Justin Summerville of St. Clair Shores has been coming up with great ideas all his life. From a collapsible wrench to an educational tale that teaches children the importance of crossing a street safely, he’s created products to improve people’s lives.

This time he’s come up with a real game changer.

“It’s very exciting and something I’ve been working on for a long time,” said Summerville, president of Hobart-Mayfield: Innovative Sports Technologies, the firm behind a patent-pending facemask clip designed to reduce the force of impact to the facemask in the game of football.

“This same patent-pending technology will be applied to protective headgear in baseball, lacrosse, and hockey. The objective of the clip is to help to reduce the severity of facemask impacts to the head and neck.” said Greg Wieczerza, executive vice-president of sales and marketing for Hobart-Mayfield. Also a former member of the Canadian Football League, Wieczerza has been on board with the project since Summerville approached him.

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“Today, the No. 1 injury concern in football is concussions,” Wieczerza said. “Having played into my 20s and having experienced numerous concussions, head injury mitigation is near and dear to me. I am also a member of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, and the same as many other players who have incurred multiple concussions, have willed my brain to the CLF for study of Chronic Traumatic Encephalophathy. Justin knew I played football. He told me about his idea, we collaborated and, long story short, came up with a design.”

That was back in 2013.

The next big step for the product is certification, which is required for all athletic equipment on the market.

Testing for certification to ensure that the clip adheres to the standards set by the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment will be done at Wayne State University’s Biomedical Lab. WSU is also the primary testing facility for the United States Department of Defense personal protection equipment. “They are excited about the testing referring to our clip as a probable ‘game changer’ in football protective equipment,” Wieczerza said.

So much so, they’re planning a completely different test because of it.

Normally, facemask/helmet tests are conducted on a simple pass/fail test. The helmet and attached facemask would be mounted on a crash dummy. If the facemask stayed on without any damages after accelerated to impact, the helmet/facemask combination would pass the certification test.

In this case, WSU will run the same ram test using a certified helmet and attached facemask, but sensors on the helmet will record the g-force. Then the standard hard plastic clips, that have no give, will be replaced with the Hobart-Mayfield impact absorbing clips. Note: the clips are affixed to the facemask near the cheek and earhole area and require no adaptation of either the helmet or facemask. Once Hobart-Mayfield clips are in place the test will be run again, only this time they will record the percentages of reduction in g-force.

The target market for the product is the 4.1 million kids between the ages of 6 and 18 who play tackle football in the United States. Additionally, there are another 32,000 collegiate players and the estimated 1,800 players who make up the National Football League.

“It’s revolutionary,” said Lomas Brown of Waterford, who was an offensive tackle in the NFL for 18 seasons in the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, including 11 seasons with the Detroit Lions.

“The thing I marvel at is how the simple things, are sometimes the best thing,” added Brown, who played the game before people were taking a hard look at the connection between concussions and contact sports. “It’s amazing that it’s taken this long for someone to come up with a solution that is so simple. It’s unbelievable.”

Since he left the game, NFL rules have been put into place to reduce the number of head injuries that occur on the field and high school coaches follow the “Heads Up” program designed to teach young players a safer way to tackle.

The seven-time NFL All-Pro gets why there has been so much concern about the game he loves. He’s a father, and he has a teenager who is in the game but conditions are different.

“I do think the game is the safest it’s ever been,” said Lomas, who is a member of the Hobart-Mayfield organization and serves on its advisory board.

All material suppliers for the clip are in the U.S. Once ready for production, manufacturing is expected to take place in Clinton Township.

About the Author

Gina Joseph is a multimedia journalist and columnist for The Macomb Daily. Reach the author at gina.joseph@macombdaily.com Follow @ginaljoseph on Twitter or visit her beat blog macomblife.blogspot.com. Reach the author at gina.joseph@macombdaily.com
or follow Gina on Twitter: @ginaljoseph.